Scorpion

King before 3100 BC.

    The Scorpion Macehead, discovered at Hieraconpolis and now in the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford, provides evidence relating to one of the earliest kings of Egypt for whom any historical information has been found. With the *Narmer Palette, this macehead preserves the earliest examples of hieroglyphic writing that have yet been uncovered.

    The names of only two kings of the predynastic period—Ka and Scorpion—are known, and the latter is represented by a hieroglyph which depicts a scorpion.

    The Scorpion Macehead is decorated with scenes in relief which are arranged in three registers: the top one probably commemorates the king's action (together with the leaders of a group of southern districts) of subjugating foreigners in the deserts, the oases, and some part of Lower Egypt possibly as far north as the apex of the Delta. The middle and bottom registers are probably concerned with the agricultural measures that the king took after his military victories, for here he is shown digging a canal, perhaps to initiate a major irrigation project.

    It is generally considered that Scorpion was a southern ruler who took early steps to conquer the northern kingdom—a process of unifying the Two Lands which his successor, *Narmer, successfully concluded.

BIBL. Arkell, A.J. Was King Scorpion Menes? Antiquity 37 (1963) pp. 31-5; Emery, W.B. Archaic Egypt. Harmondsworth: 1972.

Biographical Dictionary of Ancient Egypt by Rosalie and Antony E. David

* * *

(reigned c. 3200 BC)

   Amajor king of Dynasty 0 whose name is uncertain but was written as a scorpion hieroglyph. He reigned in UpperEgyptbut is attested from an inscription in Nubia. His principal monument is a decorated macehead found at Hierakonpolis. He was buried at Abydos, and his tombhas recently been excavated by a German expedition.

Historical Dictionary Of Ancient Egypt by Morris L. Bierbrier